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ISBA-endorsed health
insurer offers help on renewal rate increases

Reynolds
and Reynolds, ISBA’s endorsed health insurance broker, is asking members who
are facing significant rate increases in their upcoming health insurance renewals to
contact Reynolds and Reynolds.

"There
are numerous ways we can help ISBA members fight the rising cost of health
care,” says Dave Fini, senior vice president/partner of the firm.

Fini
urges members, whether as individuals or groups of any size, to call Kristi Rullestad
at 515-557-1251, or him at 515-557-1252. Outside of central Iowa, please call
toll free 855-870-4261.

2016 Judicial Performance
Review results published

The
Iowa State Bar Association released the results of its biennial survey of
judges standing for retention in this year’s general election at a news
conference in Des Moines, Iowa, on Monday. The conference was led by members of the ISBA Fair and
Impartial Courts Committee chaired by ISBA Past President Guy Cook, and was held
at the ISBA headquarters.

In
the survey, attorneys evaluated the 59 district court judges, four court of
appeals judges and three supreme court justices based on 12 performance
characteristics (10 for members of the appellate courts). A total of 1,495
attorneys responded to this year’s survey.

The
full results of the judicial performance review, including biographies of each
judge or justice, are available now on the ISBA website: www.judicialfacts.org.

New cases added to Iowa Jury Verdict Reporter

Eight
new cases have been added in the last two weeks to the Iowa Jury Verdict
Reporter published by the Litigation Section of the ISBA Young Lawyers
Division.

Available
on the ISBA website, the Jury Verdict Reporter contains a collection of Iowa
civil jury verdicts dating back to June 2014. It can be searched for cases
specific to a certain subject matter, venue or attorney. Each case reported
provides brief information about the case facts, description of the verdicts
and the actual special verdict form.

Access
the Jury Verdict Reporter directly at this link, or go to the
ISBA website homepage (www.iowabar.org)
and click on the blue tab labeled "Jury Verdict Reporter” on the right side.

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Probono.net/iowa
offers resources on legal issues for young attorneys

Young
attorneys in need of Iowa-specific legal resources should consider signing up
for Probono.net/iowa, which provides access to Iowa Legal Aid’s Volunteer
Lawyers Project's Practice Resources. That suggestion comes from leaders of the
ISBA’s Young Lawyers Division who discovered in their contacts with the nearly
1,800 YLD members that one of the key needs is for Iowa-specific legal
resources.

Joining
probono.net/iowa, which was created in 2006, gives members full access to more
than 40 different substantive legal topics, including family law, consumer
protection, public benefits and tax. The online resources were developed to
assist attorneys who are helping meet the civil legal needs of low-income
Iowans. Becoming a member of the site allows the individual access to the
resource material in the civil law library. While the need exists for
volunteers, there is no obligation to accept case referrals, and individuals
who sign up will not be contacted about potential case referrals.

To
join the site, click here, then click
on "Civil Law” in the upper left corner and "Join this Area.” Complete the
simple registration process. Confirmation of your membership will be
emailed shortly thereafter. Once you have joined the site, you can access
the resources at https://www.probono.net/iowa/civillaw/library.

IRS
warns of new wave of attacks focused on tax professionals

The Internal Revenue Service is warning tax
professionals of a new wave of attacks that allow identity thieves to file
fraudulent tax returns by remotely taking over practitioners’ computers. The
IRS is aware of approximately two dozen cases where tax professionals have been
victimized in recent days. The attacks come as the Oct. 17 deadline approaches
for extension filers.

As part of its Security Summit effort, the IRS
urges tax professionals to review their tax preparation software settings and
immediately enact all security measures, especially those settings that require
usernames and passwords to access the products. Thieves are able to access tax
professionals’ computers and use remote technology to take control, accessing
client data and completing and e-filing tax returns but directing refunds to their
own accounts.

In addition to activating security measures
for tax software products, the IRS urges all tax preparers to take several
additional steps listed in this Sept. 2 news release.

Labor and Employment
Law seminar coming soon

"Identity
theft and the employment arrangement,” and "How to get the deal done: Tips and
Wisdom from Employment Law Mediators” are two of the many topics on tap for the
2016 Labor and Employment Law seminar scheduled for Friday, Oct. 14. The
seminar, which offers seven state hours of CLE credit, including one hour of
ethics and 6.5 hours of federal credit, will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn
in Johnston, Iowa.

A
law practice management topic, "What you didn’t learn in law school: How to
effectively manage a law practice,” will be presented near the end of the day
by a panel of three veteran Iowa attorneys – Thomas Duff, Deborah Tharnish and
Mark Zaiger.

Click
here to see the full list of topics and speakers, and to register. A
printable registration form also is available through a link on the webpage.

Supreme Court
grants/denies further review in 68 cases

The
Iowa Supreme Court recently issued orders granting applications for further
review on four cases and denying applications for further review in 64 cases.
An additional 22 cases are under consideration by the court.

What
do falling bar-passage rates mean for legal education -- and the future of the
legal profession?David Frakt is a lawyer, a
lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve and a former law professor who has
studied the relationship between LSAT scores, undergraduate grades, law school
performance and bar passage rates. But he may be better known as the candidate
for dean of the Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville (which had a July
2015 first-time bar pass rate of 59.3 percent) who was asked to leave the
campus in the middle of his presentation to faculty and staff. He had dared to
suggest that the school was risking its accreditation by admitting too many
students with little or no chance of ever becoming lawyers.ABAJournal

Lawyer
describes the emotional toll of calculating victims' compensationIn
the months after September 11, the human toll of the terrorist attacks began to
be fully realized. Congress created the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund
to compensate surviving victims and families still reeling from loss, while
convincing them to forego lawsuits. And it fell to attorney Kenneth Feinberg to
figure out the monetary value of victims - from busboys at the Windows on the
World restaurant to Wall Street traders.Iowa Public Radio